Today we did not bike. Our home base was at Jeff and Deidre’s in Fortville, IN, but we spent most of our time driving up and down Route 69 outside of Indy.
In the morning we restocked on nuts and M&Ms in order to make more trail mix. Then we headed over to Bicycle Garage Indy to make some tweaks to our bikes. Maddie got new tires, I got my brakes fixed up, and now our vehicles are as good as new.
We also made a visit to Knightstown, IN, home of Hoosier Gym, Hickory’s home court in the movie Hoosiers. Rex gave us a tour of the building; we got to check out the locker room, learn some behind the scenes factoids, and even shoot on the court! I’ve only shot at an indoor court maybe once in the last 9 months. It was just about the best feeling in the world to feel a leather ball and some half-decent rims. Indiana also takes their hoops seriously, so it was neat to get a small taste of Indiana basketball through this historic site.
Tonight we ate at Maddie’s old camp counselor’s house. Eric lives in Noblestown, just a few towns over. Eric and Maddie reminisced of camp days while scrolling through old pictures, and one grainy video of the handshake they created together. Afterwards we paid a visit to Sundae’s, the best ice cream place around. The Graham Central Station was delicious; I’d only ever seen a graham central station flavor once before, at Applegate Farms back in my original hometown of Montclair, NJ. It’s always been one of my favorites.
The weather forecast looks horrible for tomorrow, so whether or not we ride will be a gametime decision. And if we do ride there’s no telling how far we‘ll go. But that’s the best part of a bike tour! You never really know what may happen, and if you did, it wouldn’t be nearly as fun.
-Charlie